Halogen G4 bulbs

physichull

physichull

physichull

Soldato
Joined
22 Sep 2008
Posts
10,120
Location
Burscough
I am looking at buying this light fixture:

http://www.next.co.uk/x523142s1#858774x52

Problem is, its going to be for the lounge and I really want it to run on a dimmer. The Next website says that it is dimmable, provided that the customer uses a "Next halogen compatible dimmer". Obviously I don't need to buy one from Next, but having read around a bit, fixtures like this use a 12V transformer and G4 halogen bulbs. I am presuming that any old dimmer switch won't work and that I would need a low voltage dimmer like this?

http://www.diy.com/nav/fix/electric...-250W-Low-Voltage-White-9289695?skuId=9299394
 
I noticed that those varilight ones don't work with wire wound transformers, so I think I would have to check the light fitting first to see exactly how it works.
 
I regret fitting halogen light fixtures to my apartment years ago. The power consumption per bulb may be a bit better than old style incandescent bulbs but halogen light fixtures usually take multiple bulbs and cost quite a bit to run.

I recently replaced 4 x 50W GU10 light bulbs in my kitchen with 4 x 7W LED ones. It was a massive saving in power usage and the LED ones are actually brighter. However it's proving difficult to do the same with my other halogen light fixtures as they take smaller G4 and G9 bulbs where LED tech isn't very mature and the physical dimensions are a problem.
 
£7 and only 100lm too. The halogen G9s I got in my hallway are 240lm and cost £5 for a pack of 10.

The other issue you get with small LED replacement bulbs is they are very directional so if you got upwards facing light fixtures, your ceiling will be bright but the rest of the room dark so you're stuck with halogen for now.

I would get a light fixture that can take larger size bulbs so you have more options.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom